Pinwheel cookies are a lot of fun to make, but if you want them to look really nice, precision is key. Rolling both colors of dough to the same extension and similar thickness, although you can also make one dough slightly thicker for a different final look. The first one is quite appropriate for Halloween. I flavored it with black sesame and orange.
BLACK SESAME AND ORANGE PINWHEEL COOKIES (from The Bewitching Kitchen)
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature 1/2 cup powdered sugar 1 tsp orange emulsion (I used LorAnn) 1/2 tsp kosher salt 2 cups flour 1 tsp black sesame seed powder dissolved in 1 tablespoon warm water orange and black food gel dye
Cream the butter, powdered sugar and salt using a KitchenAind type mixer for a couple of minutes. Add the orange emulsion, mix until combined. Add the flour and salt, mix until almost fully combined. Divide the dough exactly in two and add to one half the orange dye, a few drops. To the second half, add the dissolved sesame paste and a few drops of black food gel. Form each dough as a rectangle and place in the fridge for 10 minutes.
Roll each dough into roughly 8 x 11 inches – that is about the size of a regular sheet of printer paper, so I like to place a sheet underneath the parchment paper to visualize the dimension to roll it. Stack both doughs with parchment paper separating them and place in the fridge for 30 minutes.
Remove from the fridge, place the dark dough over a clean piece of parchment, add the orange dough on top of it. Make sure both doughs are properly aligned, and trim the edges if needed. Refrigerate, cover with plastic wrap for 30 minutes. Remove from the fridge and roll the dough as a sausage, starting at the longest edge. Wrap with plastic and refrigerate at least one hour.
Heat the oven to 350F. Cut 1/4 inch slices of the dough, place over parchment paper on a baking sheet. Bake for 15 to 18 minutes, until set and slightly darker at the edges. Cool completely on a rack. Cookies keep well for a few days stored in a closed container at room temperature.
Use the same exact dough, but flavor it with vanilla extract. For the darker dough, add 2 teaspoons cocoa powder dissolved in 1 tablespoon warm water.
Comments: You can roll the dough over cocoa nibs before slicing the cookies, but I did not like that effect very much, so I did only half of it that way. These cookies have a delightful crumbly texture, and are not very sweet, as the black sesame and the cocoa powder cut the sugar intensity a bit. This basic formula can be used for countless flavors and color combinations, of course. I hope you give it a try!
How do you feel about rye flour? I love the taste, but don’t particularly enjoy working with it, as the dough handles in a completely different way from those made with regular wheat flour. Today I share two sourdough recipes that call for rye, the first one quite heavily, the second as a small component of the bread. Both are quite substantial and very flavorful.
I cannot share the recipe for Rugbrød, but you can find it in Sourdough Everything, a book just published by Rachel Pardoe, aka Sourdough Enzo of Instagram fame. I’ve been following her for a long time, and was thrilled to see she wrote her first cookbook. I bookmarked quite a few recipes, but started with Rugbrød (Danish Rye) because it is one of my all-time favorites. Plus, it can be a bit intimidating to make, as rye flour is a major component.
The bread takes a seed soaker made the day before, with rye berries, sunflower, pumpkin and flaxseeds. The starter is made with rye flour, also the day before. It is a slow process, and I advise you to remove a small portion of the dough and place in a small vial to follow fermentation. This is something I’ve been doing regularly for about a year and I feel a lot more confident about when to move the bread from room temperature to fridge for the overnight proof. The bread was absolutely delicious, and kept well at room temperature for several days, although we ended up slicing and freezing, like we always do.
I will definitely bake more from Rachel’ book in the near future. If you are into sourdough scoring and decorations, the last chapter of her book goes over many of the techniques she often shows on her Instagram page, including painting, which is something that I am still a bit tentative when I give it a try. Her henna-painting on a 3D design is breathtaking, but I need to get mentally ready to go for it. Might take me a very long time (sigh).
Moving on, I share a recipe that was inspired by an European bread brought to my attention by my friend Margie. She actually went through the trouble of translating it from German to English for me, and I made it as written but I think the difference between European ingredients and American made it a bit too dense. So I adapted it and ended up with a bread that the husband already said “has to be in our regular rotation”. It turned out truly delicious and rye flour is a small but important component.
MUESLI, ALMOND AND RAISINS SOURDOUGH (from The Bewitching Kitchen)
Makes: 1 large loaf Total flour: 500 g Rye: 20% Hydration: approximately 78%
for the main dough: 400 g strong bread flour 100 g whole rye flour 100 g active sourdough starter, 80%% hydration 360 g water (divided in 330g + 30g) 10 g fine sea salt 1 tablespoon honey
Inclusions: 80 g muesli 60 g whole almonds, roughly chopped 60g raisins 80 g boiling water
The day before making the bread: Toast the almonds on a 350F oven for about 7 minutes. Leave it at room temperature. Prepare the muesli soaker: pour 80 g boiling water over the muesli. Stir well, cover and let stand for 1 hour. Move to the fridge overnight.
Make the dough next day: mix the bead flour, rye flour, 330g of the water, and leave it undisturbed for 30 minutes. Add the starter (100g), honey, salt and remaining 30g water. Mix by hand or with the dough hoiok in a KitchenAid type mixer on los-speed for about 3 minutes.
Genty spread the dough as a rectangle. Add the muesli (do not drain), almonds and raisins, and fold the inclusions as best as you can without worrying too much, it will all incorporate as the fermentation proceeds. Bulk fermentation will be about 6 hours, with folding every thirty minutes for the first two hours (four cycles of folding). You can follow the rate of fermentation by removing a small amount of dough into a vial. Aim for about 75% increase in volume, mine took a litle more than 6 hours total.
Pre-shape as a round loaf. Wait 15 minutes, do the final shaping. Place in a banneton, and move to the fridge until next morning. My dough stayed 14 hours in the fridge before baking at 450F for 30 minutes covered, then 20 more minutes uncovered.
This is comfort food taken to the highest level, a perfect meal for those evenings that bring a little chill, and the realization that Summer is indeed over. I could cry, but dancing to the music is much, much better. We get our bison from a farm near our town. You can check their site here. if you don’t have access to bison meat, use regular beef.
BISON POT ROAST (from The Bewitching Kitchen)
1 bison roast (about 4 pounds, boneless) 1 large onion, peeled, cut in half 3 celery sticks, sliced thin Carrots, many carrots, cut in large pieces Small potatoes, amount to taste 4 tablespoons olive oil salt and pepper to taste 1/2 cup red wine 2 cups or more beef stock 2 bay leaves 2 tablespoons flour 2 tablespoons butter
Pat the meat very dry with paper. Season liberally with salt and pepper. To a large oven-proof pot, add 2 tablespoons olive oil. Heat until almost smoking. Brown the meat on all sides. Remove from the pot, add the remaining olive oil and sautee the celery, carrots until fragrant.
Add the potatoes, place the meat back in the pot, add the red wine, beef stock, onion and bay leaves. Make sure the liquid comes almost all the way to the top of the meat. Place in a 350F oven and cook for 4 hours or until the meat is tender. Flip the meat every hour or so. If necessary, add more beef stock or water.
When the meat is tender, remove it from the pot and tent with foil. Discard the onion and bay leaves. Drain the liquid into a bowl, reservig the carrots, celery and potatoes. Add butter to the empty pot where you cooked the meat, melt it over medium-heat. Add the flour, cook stirring for a couple of minutes to make a roux. Add the reserved liquid back into the pot and cook to thicken it, simmering for a few minutes. Put the meat back on the pot, together with the veggies, adjust seasoning with salt and pepper, if needed.
You can serve right away or keept it at a very low simmer while you make popovers to go with it.
POPOVERS (adapted from several sources)
200g bread flour ¾ teaspoon table salt 1 + ½ cups full-fat milk, slightlly warmed 3 large eggs 2 tablespoons butter, melted dash of nutmeg
Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 400 degrees. Lightly spray cups of popover pan with vegetable oil spray.
Place the warm milk in a blender. Add the flour, eggs, salt and nutmeg. Process at low-speed first, then increase speed to high and blend for minute. Add the melted butter and blend for a few seconds more.
Distribute batter evenly among prepared cups in popover pan. You will have enough for six large popovers. Bake until popovers are lofty and deep golden brown all over, 40 to 45 minutes. If browning too much, cover the top with foil in the final minutes of baking.
Comments: Super important to brown the meat well, so take your time with that step. Cooking time will vary according to the type of meat you use. If you are making the pot roast to serve for dinner on the same day, I advise you to start early, maybe around 1pm maximum, so you don’t have to rush and the meat will be tender and delicious.
This is a hearty meal, but so worth the extra calories and carbs. Exercise restraint for a couple of days following this feast, and all will be fine with the universe. Except all the things that are bad in the world, but not many of thoese we can control. Do your best to preserve you mental sanity. And carpe diem.
It is really hard to take a good picture of brown food, but I hope you take my word for it, this was a delicious meal, perfect for Fall or Winter. We had plenty of leftovers and even some four-legged creatures profited from them.
In My Kitchen posts are hosted by Sherry, from Sherry’s Pickings. Please visit her site to see what everybody else is sharing this month. I join four times each year, on the first day of January, April, July and October. If you are a food blogger, consider taking part of this fun event. It is a chance to share those little things you bought or received as gifts and that make your life in the kitchen easier.
Starting with gifts….
From our former graduate student Lorne and his wife Wasu, beautiful ceramic pieces… We love owls, living in a place absolutely packed with them, I adore elephants, and that vase has the colors of the Brazilian flag. Can you spell perfect gifts? Thank you, it was lovely to see you again!
Speaking about friends knowing me well, this was another quite appropriate gift from our friend Gary… Yeah, defines me to a T.
Once again my friend Monique surprises me with a Dalmatian-inspired gift… I melted on the spot. Spot? Did someone say spot? Black spots maybe? Thank YOU, Monique!
Moving on, let me share a few things that joined our household since my last virtual tour, in the Summer.
In our kitchen…
These jams are not easy to find. They are from Ohio, but my beloved husband, the resident Jam Lover and Critic, fell in love with them, so he stocked up on two big bottles. If you ever see them for sale, grab them. They have less sugar than most brands and are very flavorful. Of course, this is info conveyed by the husband, I admit I don’t eat jam, although I use them in baking. Not these, though. The man I married is very protective of them (cough, cough).
In our kitchen…
Have you noticed I bake a lot? Maybe you did… ANYHOO, I am smitten by this line of pans, from Caraway. The coating is superb, they look super stylish, so I slowly changed some of my old pans by these. You can find them online, either at Caraway site or The Super Evil Empire. But keep an eye open because I’ve seen them in stores such as Marshall’s.
In our kitchen…
Rye Berries! An ingredient that is quite important if you make Danish Rye bread. I will have a blog post about it soon, so if that is interesting to you, stay tuned. Available here.
In our kitchen…
Paper stencils, these work wonderfully on sourdough bread, you need to be gentle and make sure to dry them well after use and place them inside a book or something to keep them flat. Available here.
In our kitchen…
My first bread using those paper stencils, a little bit of a learning curve, but I like the outcome…
In our kitchen…
Ube-flavored condensed milk. I saw it used by a baker on Instagram. Had to order a can, but have not put it to use yet. I am tempted to just make Ube-brigadeiros, but cannot quite decide, so the can is sitting and waiting. Yes, it was an impulse buy. Available here.
In our kitchen…
We have been using our two cast iron pans a lot. I have two gadgets to keep them clean. The one behind, with fine links, is my favorite. The other one, although easier to handle and easier to wash (it will go in the dishwasher if you want to), is not as efficient to reach the sides of the pan, and depending on how small the glued stuff is, it won’t remove as easily as the small chain does. Both are available on amazon, just do a search because the specific brands are always changing.
In our kitchen…
A heavy-duty kitchen paper holder. We’ve had one for 10 years, it finally broke, the bottom cracked. I tried to find the exact same brand but it was impossible, so I went to work and searched around The Evil Empire, reading reviews. Brought this one home and hope it will last as long as the first one did!
And now, let’s expand the horizons of our virtual walk, I will take you to the backyard, a place we’ve been enjoying more and more after our retirement back in May.
At this time of the year, we can sit outside when clouds go from white to pink, as the sunset starts. It is magical and we try to savor this moment, that lasts maybe a full ten minutes, whenever we can.
Prince believes we are there just for playtime with him and Star, nothing to do with pink clouds or the majestic beauty of the universe…. We obviously comply!
Of course, the backyard is more than a playground to them. They guard it, protect it, inspect it. Particularly Star, she is fearless and totally committed to the job.
Guarding the property against invaders is not an activity restricted to the backyard. They scrutinize the street for people daring to walk their pups, squirrels, bunny rabbits, wild turkeys, and flying leaves. WE ARE ON IT!
But all that enthusiasm can backfire at times…
During a walk, a squirrel rushed past us, and the commotion he caused made me let go of their leashes, and resulted in a furious chase which thankfully ended well for the squirrel. Prince came immediately back when called, but Star went through a fence and found herself dangerously close to three huge cows and a young calf. Those were very stressful minutes that I don’t like to remember, so yeah, she’s been booked and charged. Charges were later dismissed, for reasons that nobody quite understands.
Shockingly, bad behavior is not restricted to the outdoors. It involves the indoors. More specifically, doors. Doors that are mercilessly scratched when closed against the will of the resident pups.
Charges have been filed, and later dismissed, for reasons that are not fully understood.
Could it be because we are impossibly cute?
It is possible that cuteness explains it all. Not only charges being constantly dismissed, but the fact that they keep showing up on cookies…
Prince and Star could not be more different and at the same time they are so great together… Star has endless appetite, will eat pretty much anything anytime, whereas Prince can be very picky. He will often beg for treats by coming up on the countertop where we keep them, but then refuses each one…
However, even the Pickiest Eater in the house, has his weaknesses….
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The meaning of life, according to Star is sleeping well, playing hard, getting belly rubs, always wagging the tail, and giving slobbery kisses!
Well, that is all for now, my friends! I hope you will come back to read about our adventures in the next installment of In My Kitchen, which should really be In The Kingdom of Dalmatians!
As I mentioned in my post from yesterday, I am back to share a detailed video of the method to make the floating butterfly, this time in a large boule format. The process is separated in two videos, made in real time. I go over some of the struggles of the past and how they got solved. Apparently I also talk to my bread, which I only realized when I watched it. Oh, well.
VIDEO #1
And the second video, shorter, shows the scoring for maximal lift, made after the bread is baked for 7 minutes.
